I’ve tied literallythousands of flies at this point in my life. Sometimes people and fly shops even want to buy some of them from me, which means that I have found myself having to tie multiple dozens of the same pattern all of which should look pretty much exactly alike. With variations in materials and other more cryptic variables sometimes making two identical flies seem daunting, much less a dozen of them.

If you’re nitpicky and self-critical like me (for your sake I hope you’re not) this can drive you a little crazy when tying a large order of flies. I have learned a few things over the years to help me maintain my sanity though:

Wait at least a few hours to do the final inspection – If you just finished tying a dozen flies for somebody don’t immediately jump into comparing them to one another. Every little tiny, itty-bitty difference will seem glaringly obvious to you and you’ll wonder if you should retie that one with the wing that seems a fraction of a millimeter shorter or just get rid of that one there with the eye that looks like it might be a little lower than the other eye. Step away from your flies and comeback later. If you’re at least a reasonably competent tyer you’ll find that you won’t be able to tell much of a difference from one fly to the next.

Don’t compare your flies to flies in bins at big box stores like Bass Pro or Cabela’s – These flies come from big companies like Umpqua that have fly “factories” in Asia where people get paid good money (by their standards) to spend eight hours a day, five days a week, tying the exact same fly over and over and over again. Remember, unless you’re willing to spend this kind of time doing the same thing you’re flies will never be as perfectly uniform as theirs.

And remember that as a tyer of flies you will always be more critical of the flies you see – This isn’t to say people who don’t tie don’t know what a well tied fly looks like, but as a fly tyer, you’re more likely to notice the finer details, good and bad. To most people, as long as the fly does what it’s supposed to do and doesn’t fall apart after the first three or four fish (sharks, muskie and other big toothy fish not included) they’re going to be pretty happy with it.

Hopefully these tips will help put you at ease if you’re anything like me.

While tying up a tarpon fly earlier today for my up coming Keys trip in April a thought occurred to me: what the hell am I going to do if I actually hook a tarpon?

See, I’m heading down there by myself, I can’t afford a guide and the boat I’m taking with me is a kayak.

Now I know that I shouldn’t be too worried about the prospect with tangling with the silver king because, well, like I said above, I can’t afford a guide, so the possibility of me even seeing a tarpon much less getting one to eat is going to be pretty slim.

I am bringing my big stick with me though. And it’s going to be rigged up and ready to go if I do get a chance to cast to a tarpon. And if I get a chance I’m sure as shit going for it. I’d be crazy not to.

But what if I actually stick a fish? I mean, not just a fish but one of the big migratory ‘poons, and not just jump it but really drive the hook home and have to fight the big bastard for hours as he drags me and my kayak for miles around the backcountry, occasionally slinging his seven-foot armor-plated body up in the air as he tries to escape, finally giving out near a clump of mangroves that look exactly like every other clump of mangroves leaving me lost and sore but ultimately victorious?

I always thought of myself as a “blue-collar” fly fisherman; I didn’t need the fancy equipment, the shiny new gadgets or the technical clothing to catch fish. No, I could make due with what I had. I always picked function over flash, practicality over style, Budweiser in the can over micro-brews. I came from a working class family, dammit, and I may be slinging a “yuppie stick” (as my working class family calls a fly rod) but I’m sure as hell not going to fall into the trapping of the fashionable fly fisherman. Oh no, I, I am the goddamned salt of the earth when it comes to fly fishing…

Or that’s at least how it used to be.

I’ve noticed lately, after many Christmases, birthdays and tax returns that my equipment has started to get fancier, my gadgets more numerous and my clothes more and more technical.

This has, to be honest, brought a little secret shame to me as far as my redneck roots are concerned. I’ve actually found myself dressing down when fishing with certain people and laughing at the style choices of others while secretly admiring their brand new fishing shirts and zip-off quick drying shorts/pants (shants?). But shame or not, it seems that I have morphed into a fashionable fly fisherman. My one saving grace was a lack of a Buff.

You know the Buff; the seamless, one piece, tube of UV radiation resistant material that every fly fisherman in every fly fishing video that’s filmed in saltwater seems to be wearing over their faces as sun protection. To me, the Buff was always that one completely unnecessary piece of technical fishing clothing that was all about the fashion statement. I mean seriously, just wear a wide brim hat, use sunscreen and grow a beard if you’re that worried about skin cancer.

So along came this Christmas and with my wife’s purchase of two shirts for me from Strip’n Flywear(if you don’t know them click the link and check them out, they make some of the most badassed shirts I’ve ever seen) came a free Buff.

Yep, a Buff.

And I know I’ll end up wearing it. First it’ll be tentatively and in private like it’s some sort of sick sexual fetish but then the next thing I’ll know I’ll be wearing right out in public were anyone can see while I’m steadily trying to convince myself that’s it perfectly reasonable piece of equipment that I couldn’t live without.

I try very hard not to discus my political views in public. It’s not because I’m ashamed of them or anything, I’ve just come to terms with the reality that I can actually enjoy talking to and being around people who hold a completely different world view from mine.

Many people haven’t.

I found it’s easy as long as you have the ability to find the common ground, which for me is usually fishing, hunting or guns. I know a good bit about these subjects and the love of these three things are how I usually find myself being friends with people who have political views that don’t hold with my own.

See, I’m a sportsman, I’m proud to be a southerner and (this is where I may lose some readers, but oh well…) I’m a liberal. That’s right. A woolly headed, bleeding heart, up with the people, down with the man, tax loving, religion and politics should never meet, government interference wanting LIBERAL. I feel confident in saying most of the people who enjoy fishing and hunting here in the south aren’t. I’m honestly perplexed by this.

I’ve spent the majority of my life fishing and hunting on public lands next to people who actively support politics that would be more than happy to destroy those public lands if it put money into people’s pockets. These pockets don’t belong to any one of the people I hunt and fish with.

From family and friends I hear complaints about how the new sub-development over on such and such road has wrecked the hunting or fishing in the area but they support politicians that support developers. I hear people praising the local DNR for buying plots of land that go up for sale before developers can get to them and yet these same people bitch about having to pay the taxes go into buying these lands. I hear about how the government should leave businesses alone but how the factory they put on a certain stretch of river completely ruined the fishing. I hear from people how the environmentalist are destroying America but who hate the fact that the Forestry Service plants pine trees in the National Forest instead of something deer and turkeys can eat all for the sake of making a quick buck.

The disconnect baffles and quite frankly infuriates me at times. You want good fishing? You want good hunting? You want undeveloped public land? Support the people who support the environment!

Well, today’s Every day in May prompt is a wide open one, isn’t it? I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing though. On one hand, almost any fishing related topic will work. On the other hand, too much freedom can feel completely overwhelming sometimes, as it leaves one to feel as if one is drifting alone on a vast sea of possibilities. Or, in other words, I can’t think of anything on my own to write about this morning. (I have three young children and weekends are rough.)

Luckily for me and my poor sleep deprived, child rattled brain, Chadd, over at How Small A Trout, asked an interesting question in a recent post that has kept me from having to come up with something creative on my own:

The first part of this question is an easy one for me to answer: Hell No. Fishing for my blog? Not even close. I was obsessed with fishing before I could read or write. I’ve always fished. Most of my early memories are of me fishing with my grandparents or my father. Fishing is as natural to me as breathing or eating. I blog because I can’t go fishing.

Now to answer the second part of that question: yes, every time I go fishing and often the answer to what I’ve “really gone fishing for” is different every trip. It used to be about food. The majority of my life I fished for meat and sometimes I still do. Now I’m more likely to go fishing to just get out of the house or to test out some crazy-ass fly I’ve been toying with. I go fishing to test my skills with the fly rod and to solve the never-ending series of puzzles a trout stream can produce. I go so I have an excuse to hike or paddle around in my kayak. Every once in a while I go fishing as an excuse to drink beer in a boat with my buddies… Oh, “and to catch fish” should be added to all the reasons above.